Abstract
To what extent can we consider the criminal act as a strategy, a choice, a necessity, an opportunity or even the inevitable outcome in the individual struggle to deal with adversity, inequality, discrimination, fear or vulnerability—in short, as a way to obtain security? This is the working hypothesis developed in this chapter, offering an exploratory reflection around the nexus security–criminality, framed within the broader theoretical concept of human security with a specific focus on (failed) state interventions and its implications on female crime.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The use of the ethnographic method in prison studies is the subject of a comprehensive handbook edited by Drake et al. (2015).
- 2.
In 2015 was created the Equipa de Análise Retrospectiva de Homicidio em Violência Doméstica (the Portuguese counterpart of, for example the North-American National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative) composed by members of different ministries with the aim of studying and examining judicial cases of conjugal homicide in context of domestic violence . This team evaluates the efficiency of the adopted proceedings in similar situations (for example, security forces, social workers, magistrates , etc.) https://earhvd.sg.mai.gov.pt/Pages/default.aspx. According with the Observatory of Assassinated Women of UMAR (Women’s Union, Alternative and Response) between 2004 and 2016, 454 women were killed by men with whom they maintained or had in the past a romantic or conjugal relationship http://www.umarfeminismos.org/index.php/observatorio-de-mulheres-assassinadas. Domestic violence annual statistic are available at https://apav.pt/apav_v3/index.php/pt/
- 3.
A Portuguese charity founded in Lisbon in 1498. It is currently the oldest working NGO in the world, if not the first. It isn’t supervised by the church or the state.
References
Bourgois, P. (2002). Search of respect. Selling crack in El Barrio. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Burgess, P. (Ed.). (2010). Handbook of new security studies. New York: Routledge.
Carlen, P. (Ed.). (1985). Criminal women. Autobiographical accounts. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Carmo, R., & da Costa, A. F. (2015). Desigualdades em Questão. Análise e Problemáticas. Lisbon: Mundos Sociais.
Castel, R. (2003). L’Insécurité sociale. Qu’est-ce qu’être protégé? Paris: Seuil.
Comaroff, J., & Comaroff, J. (2016). The truth about crime. Sovereignty, knowledge, social order. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Crewe, B. (2009). The prisoner society: Power, adaptation, and social life in an English prison. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Drake, D., Earle, R., & Sloan, J. (Eds.). (2015). Palgrave handbook of prison ethnography. London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Eriksen, T. H., Bal, E., & Salemink, O. (Eds.). (2010). A world of insecurity. Anthropological perspectives on human security. London: Pluto Press.
Fassin, D., et al. (2015). At the heart of the state. The moral world of institutions. London: Pluto Press.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish. The birth of the prison (trans: Sheridan, A.). London: Penguin.
Frois, C. (Ed.). (2008). A Sociedade Vigilante. Ensaios sobre Identificação, Vigilância e Privacidade. Lisbon: Imprensa de Ciências Sociais.
Frois, C. (2011). Video-surveillance in Portugal: Analysis of a transitional process. Social Analysis, 55(3), 35–53.
Frois, C. (2013). Peripheral vision. Politics, technology and surveillance. Oxford/New York: Berghahn.
Frois, C. (2014). Video-surveillance and the political use of discretionary power in the name of security and defence. In M. Maguire, C. Frois, & N. Zurawski (Eds.), The anthropology of security. Perspectives from the frontline of policing, counter-terrorism and border control (pp. 45–61). London: Pluto Press.
Frois, C. (2016). Close insecurity: Inmates’ perceptions and discourses in Portugal. Social Anthropology, 24(3), 309–323.
Frois, C. (2017). Female imprisonment. An ethnography of everyday life in confinement. London/New York: Palgrave.
Gomes, S., & Granja, R. (Eds.). (2015). Mulheres e Crime. Perspectivas sobre Intervenção, Violência e Reclusão. Vila Nova de Famalicão: Húmus.
Kaldor, M. (2014). Human security. In M. Kaldor & I. Rangelov (Eds.), The handbook of global security policy (pp. 85–102). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Kaldor, M., Martin, M., & Selchow, S. (2007). Human security: A new strategic narrative for Europe. International Affairs, 83(2), 273–288.
Lima, A. P. (2016). Care as a factor for sustainability in situations of crisis: Portugal between the welfare state and interpersonal relationships. Cadernos Pagu, 46, 79–105.
Maguire, M., Frois, C., & Zurawski, N. (Eds.). (2014). The anthropology of security. Perspectives from the frontline of policing, counter-terrorism and border control. London: Pluto Press.
Martin, M., & Owen, T. (Eds.). (2013). Routledge handbook of human security. New York: Routledge.
Merry, S. E. (2008). Gender violence: A cultural perspective. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Pina Cabral, J. (2003). O Homem na Família. Cinco Ensaios de Antropologia. Lisbon: Imprensa de Ciências Sociais.
Salman, T. (2010). Taking risks for security’s sale: Bolivians resisting their state and its economic policies. In T. H. Eriksen, E. Bal, & O. Salemink (Eds.), A world of insecurity. Anthropological perspectives on human security (pp. 22–44). London: Pluto Press.
Ugelvik, T. (2014). Power and resistance in prison: Doing time, doing freedom. London/New York: Palgrave.
United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security. http://www.un.org/humansecurity/
Wall, K., & Amâncio, L. (Eds.). (2007). Família e Género em Portugal e na Europa. Lisbon: Imprensa de Ciências Sociais.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Frois, C. (2018). The Criminal Act at the Core of the Nexus Security–Insecurity: A Tentative Approach to Female Crime. In: Gomes, S., Duarte, V. (eds) Female Crime and Delinquency in Portugal. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73534-4_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73534-4_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73533-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73534-4
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)